ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore the concept of a “digital generation“ in more than 1100 Norwegian newspaper articles between 2010 and 2020, utilising a renewed framework for studying and understanding the established concept of moral panic. We investigate trends in the discourse and dominant narratives on youth and digital media, and, in addition, we map self-reported trends in digital media use amongst a representative sample of Norwegian youth aged 13–18 years. We find that media’s perception of children’s and youths’ use of information and communications technology (ICT) shares traits with previously mediated narratives on perceived dangers in youth culture. Still, the media narrative of young people’s ICT use is ambiguous, as their ascendancy into a new technological reality is also met with admiration, excitement, and ambition. In this complex situation, individual digital competence is seen as both the main enabling asset for utilising digital resources and protection against various risks following the unlimited range of individual choices on the internet. We argue that childhood personal experiences with this individualised responsibility is the main difference between children growing up with the internet and their parents and teachers, who are left to instil good ICT usage in the younger generation.
